City of Gold and Rust and a haunting past, by Michael Olatunbosun |

The novel: “City of Gold and Rust (2017, Words, Rhymes and Rhythm),” written by Dave Chukwuji, is a novel full of intrigues and suspense.

The author is a copywriter in the advertising industry and he has written quite a number of works for Nollywood, Nigeria’s movie industry. 

In this novel: “City of Gold and Rust,” Chukwuji introduces us to Richard, an auto-mechanic. We are told that he wakes up one morning with a weird feeling. We are also told that while he is at work, that morning, he is jolted by the sudden appearance of a man whose car has broken down a few metres from Richard’s workshop. After Richard fixes the car of this man, and after being paid, the man asks Richard to come to his house in Bodija to help fix other vehicles. 

At Chief Ogunjobi’s house, Richard is introduced to Chief Ogunjobi’s daughter, Jennifer, whom the author describes as “a teenage girl with an alluring figure and eyes that held him.” 

In this novel, Richard and Jennifer fall in love. But where this would lead them, none of them could fathom. 

One day, Jennifer’s mother, Chief Ogunjobi’s wife, arrives from abroad. She desires to meet the man who has tickled her daughter. And she finally gets to meet Richard. 

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It turns out that Richard and Mrs Ogunjobi have met before. Mrs. Ogunjobi descends the stairs only to come face-to-face with a certain Ndeoma whom she knows to be an Osu from her village, Anninyi.

In the novel, City of Gold and Rust, the author exposes to us how quickly a man’s forgotten and buried past can be exhumed, and how that uncomfortable past can ruin a somewhat happy present. 

So in this novel, Richard runs……and runs……and runs. 

The novel is a tragedy. It gives us a lesson on how one can be haunted down by a past which is not properly addressed and faced squarely. 

The novel also focuses attention on the Osu caste system that is predominant in some parts of Nigeria. The novel, City of Gold and Rust throws up the bitter reality of how society invents some labels and thrusts them on some people in order for some fortunate people to continue to dominate other less fortunate people. 

But in this novel, life ends for Richard, but at the same time, life continues, for it turns out that Jennifer is carrying his pregnancy. 

The author is able to thrill and treat the reader to a suspense-filled narration in a rather sublime fashion.  The novel, City of Gold and Rust, is a wonder.

. Olatunbosun, a broadcast journalist, fact-checker, and book reviewer can be reached via 08023517565 (SMS and WhatsApp only) and email: [email protected].